Lewis



(No Model.)

S. B. & F. F. LEWIS.

KNIT GARMENT.

No. 508,429. Patented Nov. 14, 1893.

Dal/5L5 an TuBaLl/f "2B 2 m: NATIONAL LIYHOGRAPHING COMPANY.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STEPHEN YB. LEWIS AN FRANKLIN E; LEWIs, OF JANESVILLE, wISco SIN,

' ASSIGNORS TO THE LEWIS KNITTING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

KNIT GARMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 508,429, dated November 14, 1893.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that we, STEPHEN B. LEWIS an-d FRANKLIN F. LEWIS, citizens of the United States, residing at J anesville, in the county of Rock and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Knit Garments, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to knit garments, and consists of a pair of drawers, union suit, pants, or similar garment'to be worn about-the legs and waist, in which the Waist band is less elastic than the body portion, as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In thedrawings,-Figure l is a perspective view of a pair of drawers constructed in accordance with our invention; and Fig. 2, a sectional view on the line mw. I

In the manufacture of elastic shirts, drawers, skirts, suits, &c., it is customary to knit the body portions of a two faced web-the 0pposite rows of loops of which mutually interlock Within the web in a well known manner. In forming the waist portion it is usual to use a tighter tension or to drop out a portion of the stitches comprising the balance of the web.

In knitting the garments (on astraight knitting machine having two parallel rows of needles placed opposite each 'other after the manner of a Lamb machine) we begin "preferably at the top or waist lineby first setting up the work on the needles on both rows, to the width desired. This width may be sufficient for one half of the garment provided it is desired to have no seam at the outside of the leg, or such width may extend from the middle waist line at the front or back to the outside leg seam at the hip, thus using two or four pieces to complete the knitting of the main part of the garment, according as may be desired. Having placed the yarn upon the desired number of needles, the machine is arranged, as well known, to knit successively upon the front and back rows ofneedles, thus producing a tubular web. Beginning at this end of the garment and placing the same yarn upon the opposite rows of needles at one and the same time, and then arranging the cams of the knitting machine so as to knit alternately courses of loops upon the opposite Application filed January '7, 1893- Serial No. 457,592. (No model.)

rows of needles, a tubular fabric is produced, the opposite sides of which are continuous and integral at the beginning end, like the bottom of a seamless bag, requiring nothing further to complete this portion of the garment. This tubular web is continued until the desired width of waist band is knitted, whereupon the cams are changed to cause the opposite rows of needles to knit simultaneously and produce what is known as a twofaoed fabric, the garment then being knitted as any garment of this class after thus changing the nature of the stitch. If desired, this process may be reversed, by beginning the garment at. the bottom with the twofaced web and continuing until the waist line is reached, when the machine cams would be changed to produce the tubular waist portion. The garment would then be taken outof the machine and the last course of loops of the knitting would be bound 01f in a manner well known,either upon machines constructed for this purpose, called loopers, or by hand. This web being comparatively inelastic, produces the desired effect, giving a waist portion for the drawers, suit, vest, skirt, or other garment, which in connection with the non elastic band a hereinafter referred to produces the required support at the waist portion and with much less expense than is occasioned by sewing on facings, and at the same time making a more desirable garment, because of the slightly elastic band. After the waist portion of the garment is knitted of a double tubular web as described above, and a piece a, Fig. 2, of non-elastic fabric placed inside of it with its extremities sewed as at S to the knitted web, the elasticity of the waist portion of the garment will be limited to the length of the inserted piece, thus giving all the advantage of a waist portion of a fixed size without the heretofore attendant expense of material and a labor required to produce satisfactory results when the fixed band is stitched in the usual manner upon the outside of the knitted fabric as suchgarments have heretofore been made.

In the drawings,A indicates the body of the drawers, and B the tubular waist band.

While we have shown the invention as applied to drawers alone, we do not wish to be understood as limiting ourselves to this special form of garment, as it is obvious that the invention can be applied to pants, skirts, shirts, and that class of snit-s known as com- 5 bination garments.

We make no broad claim to a ribbed fabric finished off by a tubular web; in fact, make no claim to any fabric per se, but to a garment in which that portion fitting about the [O waist of the wearer, is composed of a tubular web of less elasticity than the body portion with which it is integrally knitted together with the piece a.

Having thus described our invention, what 15 we claim is- 1. The herein described knit garment having the body portion formed of one-and-onerib fabric and a continuous waist portion of a double tubular web with a non-elastic fabric placed inside thereof and sewed to the knit-l STEPHEN B. LEWIS. FRANKLIN F. LEWIS.

Witnesses:

SILAS HAYNER, A. J. RAY. 

